Autumn Leaves
by xbloodlustangelx
Summary: A/N: Written for Rosalie'sRevenge, Four Seasons Challenge- An Aggravated Ginny can blame all of her frustrations on one thing. Fall, can an unfortuitous pairing with none other than The Ferret, change her mind?


A/N: Written for Rosalie'sRevenge, Four Seasons Challenge

The Challenge: To write a fanfic based around the four seasons. In each season one character's opinion about that season must be changed by the other.

This Installments Season: Fall

This Installments Pairing: Ginny Weasly / Draco Malfoy

Enjoy!

Autumn Leaves

She couldn't help the groan of agitation that left her lips but she was smart to keep the curse she wanted to mutter, to herself. No matter how softly and unintelligible she would have muttered it, no doubt McGonagle would have heard and understood it, and she really didn't need detention. As it was the woman was looking rather sour already from the groan alone. Ginny turned her eyes from the stern face of McGonagle to stare into steel and guarded gray eyes.

Yeah this was a nightmare. This was supposed to be some simple extra credit, voluntary extra credit. Students, that so wished, could sign up to help out the school and simply go on a scavenger hunt for various plants and herbs, in order to help refill the schools stock of supplies that had been lost during the war. She'd done it because she thought Neville might have his hand in it and she'd finally get to see him, and getting extra points that could be added on to any class a student was not doing their best in, was a seriously added bonus. But she did it mostly for the chance to see Neville.

This year was going to be torturous, but a kind of delicious torture, or so she had first thought. Hogwarts had opened its doors to all the students who hadn't finished their seventh year or never even attended seventh year during the war. Harry, Ron, Hermione and some others had returned. She was delighted to hear this but soon remembered Neville had indeed finished seventh year and graduated already, so hopes of them going to school together again was dead.

That was until he told her that Madame Pomfrey wanted to take him on as an aid, he'd learn to be the new Herbology teacher when she eventually retired. So he would be at school and with a lot more access to places and things they would have been denied as students. There was the taboo of her still being a student and he technically a teacher, but she thought it would be fun, sneaking around to see each other and not get caught. Not that it wasn't allowed, they were only a year difference between them, but it was frowned upon.

But apparently things weren't going to go her way. Neville was so busy learning how to become a Herbology teacher, they'd only got to see each other during her Herbology class and meal time, all of which they couldn't really talk to each other cause they were trying to keep their relationship a secret. It was the end of October and they hadn't had one second of spare time, and she had a feeling this was going to be the theme for the entire year. Although Fall was going to be the worst, cause she didn't have Quidditch to keep her preoccupied. She'd always counted Fall as her least favorite season cause she had to wait so long to start Quidditch up again.

So now she was doing extra work in hopes of getting to be around Neville, only to find that while he was part of it she'd only get to see him when she was handing in their findings, plus once you signed up, you were obligated to go through with it. To make matters worse she'd ended up getting paired with none other than The Ferret. Sure he was no longer a Death Eater, sure he'd been cleared of all charges, sure he didn't go through with killing Dumbledore, sure he protected Harry in the long run by pretending not to recognize him, and sure Harry even vouched for him. That wouldn't change the fact that he was and always would be The Ferret.

Without a word she turned away taking the list with her and walked out the great hall and towards the door to the outside. She could hear Draco's footsteps behind her as she walked briskly and had a grim satisfaction that she was leading the way but that was short lived as his longer legs ate up more distance and he quickly caught up. She was surprised to see that he didn't proceed to use his longer strides to put her behind him, but rather slowed to match her pace so they walked side by side, with a good two feet of space between them. When they reached the outside and had gotten a little ways away from the castle she stopped.

"So I'm sure you don't want to work with me so I figure we can split the list and find what's on our halves and meet up to turn them in." She said briskly, as she unraveled the scroll and began counting the list to see how many items they would need to find. Perfect there were twenty, which meant ten each. She brought her fingers to the exact point that halved the list and was ready to tear it in half.

"Actually…" Draco started and she couldn't help but heave an aggravated sigh and roll her eyes. "Herbology is not my strongest class. I took this extra credit so I could bring that grade up. We'd probably be far more successful if we searched together." He said his voice far softer and way more polite than she was used to.

Regardless of his polite demeanor she was hesitant to reciprocate. Another heavy sigh passed her lips as she looked over the list. She could see in the top hand corner in Neville's hand writing the initials G.W. and couldn't help but smile.

Neville must have told McGonagle to give her that list specifically. It had the more rare and hard to find items to collect, but ones that she knew exactly where to find, thanks to Neville's tutelage of course.

"See something good?" Draco asked and Ginny's mood completely soured her eyes lifting angrily to his, and he actually flinched when they met his. "Sorry I bothered." He said curtly and Ginny watched the walls slip back into place. It was rather interesting to behold how Malfoy could slip back into that guarded almost bored manner but she noticed his usual arrogant demeanor was gone. Only when that mask was back in place did she even realize that she'd been looking beyond it this whole time.

"I know where everything on the list is located… that all." She offered up before taking them down by Hagrid's.

"About fifteen can be found in the forest, two are around Hagrid's hut and there are three by the lake."

"We should save those for last then. Wouldn't want to have to walk around in soggy clothes for the rest of the afternoon in case either one of us should slip." Draco offered and Ginny gave him a wary glare, and he put his hands up in surrender. "I have no plans I swear."

"A Malfoy without a motive is that the sounds of pig's wings I detect." She said her voice taking on a fairly jovial tone, a tone she was even surprised by, but she was feeling guilty. Malfoy had saved Harry and didn't kill Dumbledore, didn't kill anyone and he was apparently trying to change. While the loathing their families had for each other still ran thick in their veins, now was the time for change, and if he would try, well her pride and guilt would only see to it that she tried too.

"Touche." Draco replied begrudgingly but she could see a faint tug at the corner of his lips that told her he found it a bit more humorous than he was letting on, and with that exchange a mild truce was formed. They talked little as they collected by Hagrid's, mostly Ginny informing Draco on how to locate the items and collect them properly and even more surprisingly than the fact they were getting along, was that Draco took her direction without any fight and he followed them to the letter, which showed he was actually listening to her.

They walked around the edge of the forest past the stables and paddock, making sure to stay as far from the whomping willow as was possible, after her brother had run the flying car into it, she gave it as wide a berth as she could. When they reached the spot in the forest she knew many of the ingredients they were searching for clustered, she couldn't help but let her eyes lift to the horizon where the Quidditch Pitch was, a forlorn sigh passing her lips.

"Itching for Quidditch Practice are we?" Draco said suddenly and she jumped, instantly hating herself for showing Draco that he'd caught her off guard, and what probably bothered her the most was that he was able to read her so well, damn near better than Neville and he had proven to be a Ginny expert.

"How can you tell?" She said as she turned away and trudged into the forest.

"Well you kind of got that look of longing and the sullen sigh was a big clue." He said with a shrug. "It's that same look you cast across the hall whenever Longbottom enters." He tacked on and that made Ginny pause, no not pause, freeze completely in her steps. The only ones that were wise to her and Neville's relationship was her family, Hermione, and Harry. Most believed that her and Harry were still an item which Harry, Neville, and herself were very happy to let everyone keep on believing it to be true. Her and Neville could keep their relationship secret just like they wanted and Harry didn't get any unwanted female attention, because most girls feared what she could do with a well placed 'Reducto' among other things. She had a knack for hexes and the girls knew it, little did they know that having had six older brothers at one point in her life, hexing was a necessary evil.

"What are you talking about." She said defensively, and Draco gave her an analytical glare for a moment.

"Don't worry, I'm the only one who noticed and I only noticed cause Harry told me."

"He what!" she couldn't help but exclaim. "Why would he tell you?"

"Well I asked him how things are going between you two and he admitted that you two weren't an item any longer. I tired to give him some advice to win you back and he said it wasn't necessary since you'd already moved on to Neville."

"Why would he admit all that to you?" She asked, his knowledge of her situation taking a back seat to the fact that Harry had wanted to confide in him, and Draco had wanted to make it better for Harry. Two boys who had hated each other so vehemently for the better part of their adolescence were now all of a sudden chummy, curious.

"I don't know." Draco said with a shrug. "You don't have to worry though your secret is safe with me. It's not like anyone talks to me anyway, and even if they did, and I told… no one would believe me." He gave another shrug of his shoulders and this time she could see the stiffness of them, and realization came crashing down around her, Draco didn't have much in the way of acquaintances at Hogwarts, those that didn't fear him didn't want to risk the social backlash of being seen with him.

"Well just please, not another soul can know, it can cost Neville his job." She said as she quickly started moving along to the small clearing her and Neville had found the year before, not wanting to see the look of shock on Draco's face. She was already feel far to comfortable with him as it was, the more she saw behind the icy mask he constantly wore the more she would like him, and as nice as it could be, becoming friends with Draco Malfoy in one day was too much for her to handle and definitely more than her bother would be able to handle as well.

When they reached the small clearing she looked around and heaved another aggravated sigh.

"What?" Draco asked, and Ginny had to ignore the slight tone of concern in his voice.

"Well it's bloody Fall isn't it, not only do I have to wait months for Quidditch, but I haven't been able to talk to my boyfriend for a month and a half, and now I have to dig through piles of dead leaves to find some herbs on a list to bring up my grade." She huffed before tossing down her bag, and settling very unceremoniously onto the floor. She looked up to see a Draco Malfoy battling with himself not to laugh. "What?" She damn near growled.

"You do realize you had a tantrum over the season." Draco said lightly trying to make her realize how childish she was being without ruffling her feathers too much.

"I did not have a tantrum." She said gruffly.

"Right then what would you call what you just did?" He asked.

"A… a…" She paused trying to find a word other than tantrum to describe her behavior, and the only ones she could come up with were worse. "Ok I had a tantrum." She admitted brusquely, before she started brushing the leaves away from the ground, hoping to uncover an item on the list, and after a moment Draco was sitting near by doing the same, and he had intelligently not remarked on anything after she'd spoken.

"You know Fall isn't my favorite either but you shouldn't hate it." He finally said moving leaves about with his hands, eyes not lifting.

"Why not?"

"Well, it took me a very long time to realize hating anything is just a waste of time, let alone something as innocuous as a season. It really only hurts yourself in the end." He said softly and for what seemed the millionth time that afternoon she was seeing Draco in a whole new light. "Plus should you really hate a season that your boyfriend probably enjoys." He added on.

"Why do you think Neville enjoys Fall, are you befriending him as well?" She asked, and Draco shook his head. "I'm not opposed to it mind you, but a teacher's aid can't really befriend his students." He said. "But how could he not enjoy Fall, everywhere he looks…" Draco paused and pickup a freshly fallen bright crimson leaf. "There's millions of constant reminders of his girlfriend." He held the leave out between them so that it wasn't quite touching her but it was close, and sure enough the leaf was the exact hue of her hair, and she found herself smiling bashfully in spite of everything that had passed between them in the past, and it was true. She loved summer because of that amazing summer they'd spent together, it would always remind her of the beginning of their relationship. And it helped that Neville's eyes were the exact shade of the pool of water near her house. The very one he fell into after they shared their first kiss.

"I never thought of it that way." She said softly, and Draco merely shrugged, dropping the leaf to the ground.

"Glad I could help." He said as he resumed his searching. "Oi, I think I found one." He said suddenly and just like that the short moment of understanding was past and there was no time for awkward silence. The rest of their search went the same way. The found everything and were the first pair to return with everything on the list which earned them extra points.

Ginny returned to her dormitories after an only slightly awkward handshake with Draco, somehow cementing their new truce and budding friendship, if it could be called that yet. She was in a rare tranquil mood as she moved to her bed, and upon opening the curtains her mood quickly changed to delighted. Sitting upon her bed was a beautiful floral bouquet, with small sprigs of crimson leaves and flora only to be found in Autumn, along with a note from Neville apologizing for not getting to see her as often as he'd like, redeclaring his love for her, as well as setting up a date if she wouldn't mind missing out on the first Hogsmead weekend. With a smile she began working on her response that she would slip him in class.

Eyes lifting to the window she saw the veritable sea or red, rolling as the wind rustled the leaves. Maybe Fall wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
